nanushka

5 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I'm pretty sure it was in the 2009 Met Season: http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=265. Maybe it was also done in a fall season around that time, too.

Thanks so much! I'd completely forgotten there was a whole Balanchine-Tchaikovsky program that year. So interesting to go back and read the details:

Does anyone happen to know when was the last time ABT danced Mozartiana? I'm curious to go back and read past reviews on here, and if I could save the time it would take to sift through all those past years' topics, that'd be great. Much appreciated if anyone knows!

34 minutes ago, Natalia said:

Sarah's starring again tonight as Princess Praline. Maybe Kevin McKenzie will appear with a microphone during the bows, POB Etoile style? Every now & then other companies do this, eg, Oksana Skorik promoted by Fateev after a Raymonda in Calif.

I really don't think this is Kevin's style. (They barely even allow second curtain calls now.) And not to diminish the role but...it's Princess Praline.

12 minutes ago, canbelto said:

I know this is speculative but Sarah Lane has been posting some really happy, goofy Instagram posts the past couple of weeks. They are very different from her posts last year, where she sounded at times sad, other times serious, and other times she just posted Bible quotes. So ... 

I thought more of Lane's posts along those lines were after the promotions announcement, but I could definitely be wrong. Perhaps she just thinks (like many of us) that there's more reason to hope this year, given the opportunities that she's had. I just hope that doesn't mean we're all in for an even bigger disappointment!

38 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

The NYT has posted a fantastic behind-the-scenes video of the Met featuring lots of ABT dancers and the Whipped Cream production.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/30/arts/metropolitan-opera-backstage-ballet.html

 

Brilliantly done!

God, that closeup of Joey Gorak's foot.  *swoon*

James Whiteside posted a rehearsal video on IG:

5 minutes ago, Natalia said:

 

Not a classical tutu or tiara in sight. We used to get T&V or similar during these fall seasons.

 

No other ABT "legacy" works, like Sylphides or any of the Tudors. The only option this year to see Tippet's gorgeous Bruch Violin C. is in Buenos Aires. Agnes de Mille? Mark Morris' or Tharp's "new classics"? Whatever happened to ABT's spectacularly designed Ballet Imperial? Ah...but we're getting a double dose of Millepied.

Seriously. Yes. Everything you said.

1 hour ago, abatt said:

They don't give exclusive first rights for publication of the season info.  In fact, Dale posted the official info on Ballet Alert shortly after the NY Times.  The press release goes out by email to all press contacts at the same time.

My assumption, based on the timing, was that the Times was given the info in advance and allowed to publish the article this morning with ABT sending the press release to all other press contacts immediately following.

In any case, I don't see any reason why the press release should preclude additional promotions to principal next week.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for a program with Other Dances, Symphonic Variations, and one of the Ratmanskys (ideally either the new one or Serenade, which I still haven't seen), all with good casts, so I don't have to spend time and money on more than one performance from this pretty unexciting season.

14 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

In Spanish the stress in the Russian names goes in the third syllable, as in O-si-PO'-va. In English it goes in the second.

I have never heard a native English speaker pronounce it oSIpova. If anything I think English speakers tend toward the penultimate syllable, whichever that may be. (In this case, osiPOva, which is incorrect.)

Russian is Slavic while the other three languages you mention are not. So in any case those other languages' tendencies aren't really relevant.

9 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Диа́на Ви́кторовна Вишнёва 

 

The Russian syllable нё is pronounced approximately like the American English "nyo" as in "canyon" but with a long rather than short "o." Or even "yo" as in "YO!" – but not "ee-o" as in "Eeyore." In addition, the syllable containing ё is almost always the syllable that is stressed, so, VishNYOva.

Thanks so much for the precise and clear description! That's hard to do, without resorting to phonetic symbols that aren't widely known!

1 minute ago, canbelto said:

This documentary at 33:00 provides the pronunciation of Diana's last name. It's "Vishnoyva."

What I hear at 33:00 is closer to -nyova than –noyva.

15 minutes ago, Dreamer said:

 

Diana Vishneva's name in Russian is spelled with a ё which is different from -o or even -yo.  But that was not my point.  I simply tried to object to the notion that the  Russian-speaking audience would only support ballerinas whose names end with -ova. But maybe I misunderstood and you referred to those ballet goers who stuck in the era when ballerinas found it beneficial to russify their names. 

My initial point was a speculation (somewhat facetious, but not completely) that perhaps certain ballet-goers –– whether Russian-speaking or not –– are drawn to names that sound distinctly Russian. Kochetkova and Vishneva fall into that category; Part does not (and in fact is not a traditionally Russian name, I believe –– I forget her father's background). Even today, among certain ballet-goers, there is a certain veneration given to Russian dancers, especially female. My saying "if she'd been an -ova" was meant to refer to that. I did not mean to leave out -evas or any other Russian-sounding variants. It was a point about perceptions, not spellings.

I recall reading elsewhere on Ballet Alert that the end of Vishneva's name was properly pronounced -nyova (approximately –– not trying to be phonetically exact here!), but perhaps that was incorrect.

1 minute ago, Dreamer said:

 

Uhm.. That is an interesting thought.  But it doesn't explain the success of Vishneva.

It's there in the Russian pronunciation, though!  

10 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Isn't Calvin Royal fairly tall? He could be a good choice to develop as another tall partner. He has the lines too for the prince roles.

Yes, I think he is. At least, he has the proportions of a tall dancer. They may not be able to wait long enough to groom him, though, since he's only had a few leading roles and never in a full-length. I fear Hammoudi may get the nod in the meantime.

17 minutes ago, aurora said:

 

I will say Macaulay's articles (not proper reviews) on the histories of ballets, like that on Sleeping Beauty, are interesting, and personally I think the best sort of thing he writes. I just find it less successful when he shoe-horns too much of it into reviews proper. Perhaps largely because of the space limitations.

 

 

I agree. I think Macaulay is at his best as a dance historian –– e.g. in the very detailed and comprehensive article on "evolutionary changes" in Serenade in the Winter 2016-17 Ballet Review. I don't find him to be as convincing in his writing on individual performances. More than with almost any other reviewer, when I've seen the actual performance (or at least others by the same artist –– though that's obviously less fair of a comparison) that he's writing about, I'm left wondering "How is that what he saw??"

Edited to add:

Which is not to suggest that I necessarily want to read reviews that merely confirm what I've seen myself. Rather, in such a situation, I want the reviewer to help me "see better" what I've already seen –– or to see it better the next time around. I simply haven't had that experience very often if at all from reading Macaulay's reviews.

1 hour ago, fondoffouettes said:

Soloist to Principal:

[...]

Likely: Shevchenko (She rose to the challenge, and then some, in Don Q and Corsaire.); Teuscher (She nailed Swan Lake, but I wonder if they will wait for her to carry another full-length before promoting her.)

Shevchenko and Teuscher would seem a bit premature to me –– though I agree they are headed in that direction, and I hope they get there in another year or two –– so I'd put them more under "Possible" than "Likely."

27 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Arron Scott is already a soloist. 

At this point, Shayer seems to get more soloist opportunities than Scott, so it would be odd (though not unprecedented) for the former not be be promoted.

23 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

In addition to promotions, I hope Kochetkova's contract doesn't get renewed. I don't wish any ill on an injured dancer, but if there's anything this season showed, it's that there are technically sound (and short) dancers within ABT's ranks that can be partnered by Cornejo and Simkin. Kochetkova doesn't bring enough artistry to the table to justify her place at ABT, in my opinion.

Ah but she does have that Russian name, which is may be a selling point.

I often wonder if Veronika Part's career would be different if she'd been an -ova.

35 minutes ago, aurora said:

I mean who besides himself has ever included "to or beyond the point of madness" in their definition of a balletomane?

In the root of the word is "mania" –– i.e. "madness." But otherwise, I completely agree with everything you've said, aurora!

26 minutes ago, Natalia said:

 

I happen to (mostly) love Alastair's reviews because he's not afraid to be "anti PC."

I'm curious, what do you have in mind as some examples of his being willing to be "anti PC"? Things such as the infamous "ate too many sugarplums" comment, or other sorts of things?

27 minutes ago, miliosr said:

Bringing in Veyette to replace an injured Cory Stearns in Theme was every bit as controversial in its way as the decision to turn American Ballet Theatre into Ardani Ballet Theatre was. Stearns went down weeks before Theme was set to go on. By bringing in Veyette when there was plenty of time to cast and rehearse a ranking soloist (i.e. Jared Mathews), McKenzie was, in effect, saying to his male soloists and corps members that he had no confidence in them. Lo and behold, It was right around this time that Mathews announced he was leaving for Houston Ballet. I can't prove the two events were connected as Mathews' decision to leave may have already been in the works when the Theme decision was made. But I absolutely believe that said decision must have confirmed for Mathews that he was making the right decision. (And then, to add insult to injury, McKenzie gave him that token Giselle w/ Reyes when he had one ballet slipper out the door.)

 

The guest star business is a tricky one because it can have all sorts of consequences independent of how good the incoming guest may be.

That was indeed a particularly galling example, I remember. It's one thing to bring in a guest whom otherwise New Yorkers would not have a chance to see or to see in a particular role. It's quite another to bring in one from the other big NYC company to dance a role he already regularly dances (in the context of Tchaikovsky Suite 3) right next door.

1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

As an aside, I wonder if Murphy will finally be able to get back on stage Thursday. She's still listed on the casting sheet. From her IG account, it looks like she's been in the studio recently.

Yes, this is from today:

8 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I don't think Part's last IG post means she's retiring. It reads to me as if she's just acknowledging her last SL and her feelings about it.

I think it could go either way. We may just have to keep our eyes on the roster and the next season brochure. If she is retiring, I would not be surprised that she chose to go out in this quiet sort of way.

14 hours ago, canbelto said:

AM did review two performances of Onegin:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/25/arts/dance/review-onegin-diana-vishneva-alessandra-ferri.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront

...beginning with his requisite soft dig at balletomanes.  As if we're all still throwing dead cats on the stage like in the good old days.